President Barack Obama touted economic improvements and chided a gridlocked Congress as he spoke to a crowd of hand-picked guests Wednesday in Denver’s Cheesman Park.

“We have come farther and recovered faster than almost any other advanced country on Earth,” Obama said in remarks that focused on the nation’s lowered unemployment rate since the economic collapse that greeted him in 2009.

“I’m here for every American who works their tail off and does everything right and who believes in the American Dream,” Obama said. “I remember my first minimum-wage job — at Baskin Robbins, by the way, I had to wear a cap and an apron — and how, like, a little raise would have really helped. I think about what it was like for me to finance college, and I think about health care costs when Michelle and I were just starting out.”

Alex Dooley, who met with the president over pizza at the Wazee Supper Club on Tuesday night, introduced him to the several hundred guests who attended the event in a cordoned-off section of the park nestled under towering evergreens by the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Dooley, who lives in Denver and works at a furniture upholstery store, wrote to the president after his 2014 State of the Union address, thanking him for calling on businesses to raise the minimum wage.

Dooley said she thought Obama’s message was one that harkened back to his 2008 campaign.

“He talked about hope and change then,” Dooley said. “And though he inherited a bad economy, it’s now changing and more opportunities are coming about. His message of raising the minimum wage helped my boss realize it was important.”

In his 25-minute speech, Obama spoke about equal pay for women, attracting more high-tech jobs to the United States and making college more affordable.

He criticized congressional Republicans for not backing his economic proposals.

“Their single accomplishment was shutting down the government and threatening the full faith and credit of the United States of America,” Obama said in a speech to Democratic donors at the Downtown Denver Westin hotel after the park speech.

Obama helped raise money and campaign fervor for incumbent Sen. Mark Udall, who has only a narrow lead over GOP Rep. Cory Gardner, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey two weeks ago.

“Try as he may, Coloradans aren’t buying President Obama’s tired talking points” said Ryan Call, the state’s GOP chairman. “The fact is that most Coloradans do not feel that they are doing better after six years of President Obama and Sen. Udall in office.”

Udall missed his own fundraiser. He remained in Washington to vote on a new Housing and Urban Development director who would affect flood recovery efforts, according to Udall’s office.

But Gardner campaign spokesman Alex Siciliano said the incumbent and the president remained linked.

“The only difference between President Obama’s campaign speech today and every other one he has given was that Sen. Udall wasn’t standing by his side,” Siciliano said. “Sen. Udall has been more than willing to follow the president on everything from health care and gun control to energy and out-of-control government spending.”

If Democrats lose the Colorado seat they will have a hard time maintaining a majority that’s crucial to Obama’s agenda in the last two years of his presidency.

“Mark Udall is a serious person who is trying to do the right thing and who has the values that we share,” Obama said. “He is not an ideologue. He doesn’t agree with me on everything, but he believes in the core idea that I think should be what Democrats are all about, this idea that if you work hard you should be able to make it.

“And he’s there on behalf of working families all across Colorado. And that’s worth supporting.”

A native of Colorado, Kurtis Lee was a politics reporter for The Denver Post from February 2011 until July 2014. He graduated cum laude from Temple University in 2009 with a degree in journalism and political science. He previously worked as an online writer in Washington, D.C., for the PBS NewsHour.

Joey Bunch was a reporter for 12 years at The Denver Post before leaving to join The Gazette in Colorado Springs. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry. He likes stories more than reports.

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